


Cherry Wine

by shelliebyrne



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Background Relationships, Blood, F/F, F/M, Gaslighting, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Manipulation, Physical Abuse, Pre Mount Glenn, Romance, Rosewick - Freeform, Secret Relationship, Slow Burn, Underage Drinking, Underage Relationship(s), Verbal Abuse, Violence, Whiterose, divided Team, slow burn ruby rose/weiss schnee, supportive Weiss, violent relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-23 06:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14929275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shelliebyrne/pseuds/shelliebyrne
Summary: Roman Torchwick decides to play hero and save Ruby Rose from a late night patrol gone wrong. He expects it be a one time thing but the young huntress in training makes her way into his life in a way he would've never seen.Roman Torchwick loves Ruby Rose.However their relationship is rock at best and Roman just can't help his temper.But he really does love her.





	1. Late night walks

**Author's Note:**

> This story will feature graphic depictions of violence, mentions of suicide and alcohol abuse. I will probably state before a chapter if there is anything particularly triggering.  
> Also Aura's don't exist in this universe because i truly don't understand them despite my research sorry :)

The lights flickered overhead as Ruby walked briskly through downtown Vale. Her hood was up on her head to tell anyone she passed that she wasn’t in a talking mood. Crescent Rose was held firmly in her hand if she needed to quickly fight someone and her eyes were constantly scanning the darkened alleyways for anyone lurking and she thought not for the first time that night how nice it would be to have Blake’s night vision to help her. But Ruby was alone as the rest of her team were scattered throughout the city. 

Her eyes are heavy and Ruby noticed how hard it was becoming to hold her weapon because she was just so tired. They had been out for hours trying to find any information about the White Fang or the whereabouts of Roman Torchwick. At one stage she had fought off a couple members of the organization but had found no new information from her battle. It just left her tired and a little sore from swinging Crescent Rose around too much. However she had forced herself to continue patrolling her designated area as the night wore on. Her feet shuffled against the ground tiredly and she had to stifle each yawn so people wouldn’t see just how exhausted she had become. 

Ruby had just made it down the end of the street when something flashed from her right side in a blur of shadows. She turned sharply but found the street to be just as empty as it had been for the past few minutes. Ruby chalked it down to her exhaustion finally catching up with her and she was just about to call the team and call it a night when something clattered in the alleyway behind her. She pushed her exhaustion back and ventured into the dark with her weapon raised in its sniper form. 

The dark alley made Ruby uneasy as she slowly walked past the rubbish bins. Her nose crinkled at the strong smell of the trash littering the ground. Beyond her was nothing but growing darkness and she wished Blake had accompanied her. The clattering sounded again further down the seemingly never ending alleyway but Ruby forced herself forward despite the growing unease. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she came to the brick wall at the end and found nothing but a cat sitting atop a fallen over bin. She sighed loudly and made her way back out into the brightness of the main street. 

Then something collided with her head painfully. 

Ruby’s head smacked painfully off the ground and her vision swam in and out of focus for a moment. Crescent Rose had flown out of her reach and once she had regained her composure, she attempted to scramble toward her weapon. But a boot stomped down onto her wrist and halted her movement. She bit back a scream as pain shot through her arm and the beginnings of a headache was forming behind her eyes. She lifted her head to look at her attacker and saw the familiar mask of the White Fang. Just her luck she supposed. 

“You need to back away from the White Fang little girl” The man growled and dug his boot into her wrist. She heard a small chuckle from him as she screamed this time “Or we’ll have to do something about you and your little school friends” 

Ruby felt a sharp kick to her ribs and curled in on herself as the Faunas backed away and picked up her weapon. He examined it carefully but Ruby couldn’t focus on him at the moment as another member had begun kicking her repeatedly in the ribs. She cries out at every sharp kick and prayed nothing would break from the sheer force the Faunas was using against her. Ruby grit her teeth and grabbed his leg, bringing him crashing down next to her with a sickening cracking sound against the concrete. She forced herself to her feet and stared down the Faunas holding her baby. 

She wasted no time in lunging for him but he was quicker and dodged her weak attack. Ruby felt her fatigue catching up to her making her slower and less sharp than she usually was. Sure she wasn’t the best at hand to hand combat and had been meaning to practice more. But there was no time in thinking about what she should have done. All she knew was that she needed her weapon and then to contact the others for backup or even to just fall back and go home. Her ribs screamed in agony with every movement she made towards the Faunas and every so often dizziness would overcome her and she would barely manage to stand her ground. 

“I thought you’d be more of a challenge” He muttered as he dodged her feeble fist aimed at his chest. He seemed to grow bored almost and brought his fist crashing against her face and for the second time that night she crashed into the concrete in a heap of scraped skin and tangled cape “Pathetic” 

Blood flowed sluggishly from a gash on her forehead and dripped from her bust lip. The taste of copper in her mouth is overwhelming and each breath she takes is shaky and burns her chest like a raging fire. Still she stood up slowly and spat the blood from her mouth ignoring each protest her aching body sends her way and lunges for the man once more. This time she managed to grab her weapon and pulled it out of his lax grip. He clearly underestimated her determination and Ruby saw the shock register on his face before Crescent Rose was put into her full glorious form.

The first thought that registered in her mind was to activate her semblance and run as far as she could away from the Faunas who began cracking his knuckles as he prepared for a proper fight. But another part screamed to take him down and get information. However in the minute she had become distracted with plans, the Faunas had crossed the small gap between them and lunged for her throat. He brought her up into the air and squeezed hard against her airway. Ruby’s feet barely grazed the ground and her fists hit against him weakly. Crescent Rose slipped from her weakening grip and clattered to the ground beneath her feet. Her vision swam and black dots sat in the corner of her eyes and steadily grew. 

“I’m going to die” Ruby thought as her lungs burned and all she could see was her killers face swimming in and out of focus. Her arms had fallen limply to her sides and all her senses felt like they were stuffed with cotton. She was dying because she had let her guard down for a single second. 

Just as her eyes slipped closed the pressure around her throat seized and her body crumbled to the ground. Her lungs lapped up the air greedily and she leaned back against the wall with her chest heaving. Ruby’s vision returned after a moment of desperately trying to focus and the first thing she saw was a familiar bowler hat atop a mess of orange hair. She barely had time to register the fact that her enemy was standing between her and her would be killer. Torchwick glanced over his shoulder and smirked. 

“Isn’t it past your bedtime red?” Torchwick chuckled and blew cigar smoke her way. She watched him in confusion as he snubbed out his cigar beneath his foot and aimed Melodic Cudgel at the Faunas. She heard the trigger being pulled a scream and then silence. 

Ruby’s hand was on Crescent Rose within an instant and she aimed it at Torchwick as he fully turned to look at her “Don’t come near me” she hissed and put her finger on the trigger to show she wasn’t to be messed with “Why are you here?”

“Bit demanding aren’t we? I should be asking you the same” Torchwick replied casually and knelt down in front of her “Here I am going for a nice stroll at night and I find someone trying to kill my target? I can’t be having that now after all we have something special”

“You going to kill me?” Ruby asked and aimed her weapon higher when Torchwick laughed loudly. 

“Maybe not today red. After all, I’ve had such a busy day today and I want a break for now” Torchwick said “You understand right? I promise we’ll resume next time we encounter. Besides you look like you can barely keep your eyes open”

Ruby didn’t respond but lowered her gun slightly to show she wouldn’t strike when his back was turned. She was still wary of him however as Torchwick stood up and extended his hand to her. But before she could accept his polite, and uncharacteristic, gesture the Faunas had managed to get back to his feet and swung for Torchwick. Fists collided with his head and continued to rain down on him. Ruby didn’t hesitate in extending Crescent Rose into a scythe and swinging it at the Faunas. It was going to be a long night.


	2. Aiding the Devil

Ruby woke to the constant buzzing of her scroll buried somewhere in the couch she had crashed on for the night. Her hands fumbled to find the device as it had managed to get wedged between the couch cushions and triumphantly she pulled it from its hidden spot and turned it on. Ruby’s eyes widened at the hundreds of messages filling the screen, dozens of missed calls and voice messages. A guilty feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as she read over the more recent ones and could practically hear the worry spilling from each message her teammates had sent her. Ruby rubbed the sleep from her eyes and dialed Yang’s number. 

“Ruby? Oh my god are you ok?” Yang practically shouted down the phone the moment Ruby had dialed her number. She felt that guilt building in her stomach again but pushed it aside and waited for her sister to calm down from her panic.

“I’m sorry” Ruby whispered and scowled out how weak and scratchy her voice sounded. Her throat felt like sandpaper and swallowing hurt greatly. She could tell Yang would be berating her for answers “I got into some trouble last night and crashed in some alleyway somewhere. But I’m ok

“You don’t sound ok. God what kind of trouble?” Yang replied just as quickly and Ruby could hear Weiss and Blake bombarding Yang with questions in the background “Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you”  
Ruby looked around the room and frowned. She felt bad for lying to Yang about her whereabouts but knew she couldn’t just up and tell her sister where she was, who’s apartment she had crashed in last night “No its ok I’ll just run back to Beacon. I don’t really know where I am exactly anyway” 

“Right ok but just come home as soon as you can” Yang said quietly and continued even more quietly “I thought you were dead Ruby. We searched practically the whole of the town looking for you and I kept expecting to find you dead somewhere. Please don’t ever scare me like that again ok?”

“Yeah I’m sorry. I love you”

“I love you too”

Ruby hung up and glanced around the apartment again. It was decent sized with the kitchen attached to the sitting room. Two glasses sat on the counter, one filled halfway with water and the other with only a small drop of whiskey left. Her nose wrinkled as she stretched and pain shot through her chest. Ruby had managed to down painkillers before drifting off to sleep but they had long since worn off and she felt every ache throughout her body. Her eyes darted to where Crescent Rose was sitting by her feet and sighed in relief. She didn’t like the idea of being weaponless in the apartment. 

“You’re still here?” 

Ruby’s head shot to the door frame that lead to a bedroom where she had promptly carried Roman Torchwick mere hours before. He leaned against the doorframe for support and eyed her wearily. Ruby could still see the fog of a concussion in his eyes, confusion written across his face and his hand rubbed against the bandage wrapped around his head. She sighed loudly and moved over on the couch to make room for Torchwick. He stumbled over and almost fell over the coffee table but managed to sit down beside her. The silence was awkward and heavy. 

“Do you remember what happened?” Ruby asked and dared glance at the criminal. She saw him staring at his bloody knuckles and trying to think. Frustration flashed across his face briefly before his face blanked and he shrugged his shoulders “I carried you here after that Faunas knocked you out. You let me crash on your couch” 

“Wait how did you find my apartment?” Torchwick chuckled slightly and their eyes met briefly.

“You told me where to go. You were half conscious at some stage and gave me directions. So I activated my semblance and ran here” Ruby responded. Her scroll buzzed again from within her pocket but she ignored it and let silence fall once more. 

“Thank you” 

“We’re even now right?” Ruby looked at him again and fidgeted with her fingers “We can go back to being enemies who wouldn’t ever help each other because you saved me and I repaid the favour”

“Yeah I suppose. I couldn’t imagine it any other way Red” 

Ruby got her feet and put her cape back around her shoulders. Her body continued to scream out as she moved to grab Crescent Rose and pushed her aching feet back into her boots. Ruby could feel Torchwick watching her closely but she knew he wouldn’t attack her with her back turned. Right now they were mutual, in a silent agreement that once Ruby walked through the apartment door that everything would go back to normal. Their cat and mouse routine would continue until one of them was caught. But right now it was calm. 

Ruby’s fingers curled around the cold door handle but she didn’t open it for a long moment. Instead she turned her head and glanced at Torchwick once more “I was never here ok?” her look left no room for argument and Torchwick thankfully nodded and in a flurry of rose petals, Ruby was gone.   
\-------------  
Rose petals came to a stop at Ruby’s feet as she made it to Team Rwby’s dorm room. Her hand hovered awkwardly over the doorknob as she tried to think of anything to make up for her disappearance the night before. She knew how worried all of them had been and felt that guilt bubbling up again in her stomach as the coldness of the metal bit into her hand. But before Ruby even had a chance to open the door herself, it flung open and banged loudly against the wall. Ruby was pulled in painfully by her sore wrist and smothered against Yang’s chest in one of her signature rib crushing hugs. 

“Oh my god I was so worried” Yang whispered and buried her face in Ruby’s hair. Ruby felt wetness dripping onto her head but didn’t comment for her sisters sake “This is why Beacon assigns teams you dolt”

“I see Weiss is rubbing off on you” Ruby commented despite her airwaves having been cut off almost completely and not for the first time this week “But you are crushing my ribs and I think you’re going to kill me sis” 

“She has every right to you idiot. Do you know how many hours I had to walk around in the dark when I could’ve been at home getting my beauty sleep instead of looking for you” Weiss moaned but Ruby noticed how she was hovering over her with an air of concern. 

Blake simply glanced up from her novel “Told you she was alive” 

Ruby was glad to see somebody had faith in her fighting skills and was about to comment when she noticed a plate of cookies sitting on the desk by the door. She squealed loudly and wriggled out of Yang’s vice grip to dive at the plate and shove them all into her mouth like a hover. Ruby hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until she was eating the delicious sweet treats and sighing with contempt. She ate them all despite the immense pain her throat was currently in. But definitely worth it. 

“You said you were attacked? By who” Weiss asked after wiping the disgusted look of her face and getting over the fact that her partner was an animal when it came to all things cookie related.   
“The white fang” Ruby said through a mouthful of cookie before she swallowed “They were following me for a bit and attacked me from behind. Really got a few good hits in too” 

“Hits in like how?” Yang stepped forward and that motherly aura was radiating from her like a heater. Her eyes momentarily flickered to red but were gone within the blink of an eye and something told all the members of the room that somebody was getting murdered tonight. 

Ruby sighed and crossed the room to gently close the door. Blake’s interest peaked and she carefully placed her book down onto her bed as Ruby eased her top off and showed the full extent of the damage. She had briefly gotten a glance at it before falling asleep on the couch but it looked much worse under the bright lighting. Ugly dark bruises covered most of her chest and slipped under her sports bra. Some areas had turned a sickening purple and others were yellow and tender. She ignored the worried gasps and continued by lifting her hair to show the large gash across her forehead which had long since become caked with dried blood. 

“I almost died” She whispered and felt the heat radiating off her sister in waves. She didn’t have to look to know her eyes had shifted to red indefinitely “He strangled me and I almost died. Which was scary as hell like are there even cookies in the afterlife?” Ruby’s eyes glittered slightly and it took all of Weiss’ willpower not to smack her forehead hard enough to give herself a concussion. 

“Ruby you almost died and you’re worrying about cookies?” Weiss asked incredulously and stared at the younger girl who had managed to be appointed their leader. Still she couldn’t help but feel thankful for the lightening of the atmosphere as Ruby went on a mini rant about the necessity of cookies. 

“Anyways I’m ok now, sore and tired but otherwise ok and that’s all that matters” Ruby cheered and quickly put her top back on. She smiled at each of her teammates and put their worrying minds at ease. 

“Just please let us go together if we have to look for the white fang ok? No more solo missions just in case something like this happens again” Yang begged and pulled Ruby into another less bone crushing hug on the account of her injuries. Her voice lowered “I couldn’t stop thinking that you were going to be just like mom” 

Ruby stiffened slightly before turning around sharply and burying her face into Yang’s chest “Never. I’d never leave you sis” 

That was all the confirmation Yang needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always liked Rosewick but I never really wanted it to become canon because it obviously wasn't and I've read all the stories written here for Rosewick. As much as i love them i've always seen Rosewick as abusive and toxic so I decided to write it that way. Just to clear things up lol :)


End file.
